Art Appreciation B’s recent visit was to the National Gallery to see Radical Harmony: Helene Kroller-Muller’s Neo-Impressionists.

This included paintings by Seurat, Van Gogh, Signac and Pissarro.

The Neo-Impressionists painted in small dots of pure colour. From a distance, the dots blend, creating an impression of light. This technique is now known as pointillism. Probably the most well-known example is Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”.

These artists also had radical political ideas. As well as portraying European society and beautiful landscapes, they depicted the struggles of the working class in an industrial age.

Most of the paintings in the exhibition were collected by Helene Kroller-Muller, one of the first female art patrons of the 20th Century. She collected these works in order for them to be viewed by the public and her vast collection is now in the museum she founded in the Netherlands.

As you can see from the photos, the exhibition was very well-attended.